"President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to serve as the nation's solicitor general. The solicitor general is charged with defending the government before the Supreme Court, and files friend-of-the court briefs in cases in which the government believes there is a significant legal issue. The office also determines which cases it would bring to the Supreme Court for review. Verrilli is best known for leading the recording industry's legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster's demise when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the RIAA's verdict." Cough.

As someone who isn't from America, you may not know the extent at which the opposing party digs up dirt on someone. Most people have enough skeletons in their closet that running for office doesn't seem reasonable if they want to keep their privacy.

We've all made mistakes in the past, there's no reason why they need to be aired out publicly to the entire world. Unfortunately, smoking up in the past, having any sort of sex that isn't considered vanilla or having an extramarital affair inevitably winds up being revealed to all when running for office in the states...